Rebirth of the Cool: Discovering the Art of Robert James Campbell

Rebirth of the Cool: Discovering the Art of Robert James Campbell
Jessica Ferber
Powerhouse Books

Robert James Campbell was a photojournalist whose work appeared in the Village Voice and DownBeat among other publications. At the height of his photographic career Campbell captured the likes of The Modern Jazz Quartet, Philly Joe Jones, Wayne Shorter, The Staple Singers, Bill Monroe, Dave Brubeck, Count Basie, Lee Morgan, Bud Powell, Richie Havens, Chuck Berry, and more. He vigorously documented New York's jazz era, and its metamorphosis into the beat and folk movements although later in his life he was wrought by mental demons, financial hardship, and health failure, had to give up his passionate work at what should have been the prime years of his career, having succumbed to his deteriorating body and mind. He died homeless in Vermont in 2002. Jessica Ferber has been curator of Robert James Campbell's life and photography since her graduation from the University of Vermont in 2002.

In 2012, I came across her Kickstarter campaign for this project and joined in after looking at her video explaining this. Marc Myers, who does the award-winning blog, Jazzwax, did an interview with her which he put on his blog and endorsed the campaign, helping her reach her goal. This was an ambitious project, and while the original date for publication was not met, the wait for publication has been worth it. Marc Myers has written the introduction for this, while Jessica  details the circumstances that led her to work on the project related to Campbell's work. There is a lengthy introduction that includes Campbell's biography including his unfortunate last years This introductory portion of "The Rebirth of the Cool" is illustrated by a variety of pictures of Campbell and early prints of his work.

The core of this book is the wonderfully reproduced photography of Campbell. There is a mix of street photography (including lovers in a park, a touch football game near Cooper Union in New York City, chess players in Washington Square Park) along with a variety of jazz and folk performers from a variety of locations. Among the images are Bud Powell at a recording session for "The Return of Bud Powell," drummers Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones and Mel Lewis at a Gretsch drum battle at Birdland, Mississippi John Hurt on the steps outside the Gaslight Cafe (and there are also two wonderful performance shots of him), Son House and John Hammond Sr. smiling broadly and clasping each other's hands (I believe when House had signed his contract with Columbia Records), Chuck Berry at the Newport Jazz Festival (likely the Festival documented in the film "Jazz on a Summer's Day"), Wayne Shorter, Cecil McBee and Roy Haynes at Birdland, comedian Dick Gregory at the Village Gate, a couple of Flip Wilson portraits, and several of Myrlie Evers, shortly after the assassination of her husband Medgar.

I reiterate that the reproduction of the black and white images is superb and reveals the eye Campbell had. Arguably the finest book of music photography (and more) to come out in 2015 and would make a terrific Holiday gift. I know this is a book I will be returning to look at the images many more times.

As mentioned I was a Kickstarter Supporter of this project. There are some sample images on amazon.com from this. It is also available from Barnes and Noble and other stores with official publication date of December 15.

Jas Obrecht - Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar

Jas Obrecht
Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar
The University of Minnesota Press

Former editor for "Guitar Player" magazine, Jas Obrecht has written for years on blues guitarists. "Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar" is his most recent volume surveying some important blues guitarists who first recorded the 1920s. Included are portraits of artists including Sylvester Weaver, Papa Charlie Jackson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Willie Johnson, Lonnie Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt and Tampa Red. While the chapters vary in length (with the Lonnie Johnson chapter being the lengthiest), Obrecht write clearly and concisely to note each person's significance and if these portraits of the performers may originally have appeared in "Guitar Player"decades ago, Obrecht has rewritten and updated them to incorporate the latest information about such artists. For example the chapter on Blind Blake includes discussion of a recently discovered 78 of his as well as the fact he died in Milwaukee. Also, the chapters on McTell, Johnson and Hurt incorporate information from recently published biographies of these pioneering and influential artists. "Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar" is highly readable and recommended.

I purchased this book. This is one of a number of short reviews I have written for the 2015 Holiday Gift Guide edition of Jazz & Blues Report.

Blues For a Blue Monday

Here are some Blues for a Monday Morning after a long weekend.

First Eddie Boyd with his first recording of Blue Monday Blues.

Next up is Smiley Lewis with Blue Monday, later a hit for Fats Domino.

Let's not forget James "Thunderbird' Davis' Blue Monday, which was later interpreted by Andrew Brown and ZZ Hill.

While not titled Blue Monday, Detroit Junior's Call My Job is a classic about the Blue Monday blues.

Mississippi John Hurt had the Monday Morning Blues.

 

Rory Block's Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt

Stony Plain has just issued Avalon, the fourth of Rory Block recordings that pays tribute to some of the blues legends that inspired her and from whom she learned in developing her own music. To me this is a far better recording than her Reverend Gary Davis tribute where some of her vocals, or should I say shrieking on some vocals, made several of the selections unlistenable. 

While her vocals may sometimes come across as mannered, Block avoids going over the top on this. Importantly, Block evokes Hurt’s rolling guitar style and genial vocals without attempting to imitate his playing. She adds spoken and verbal asides in retelling the stories Hurt sang (Avalon is a particularly effective adaptation) and employs overdubbing to build up her guitar accompaniments for renditions of familiar songs associated with Hurt as Louis Collins Blues, Candy Man and Pay Day. Got the Blues Can’t Be Satisfied is an especially apt example how Block places her own stamp on Hurt’s music. 

In addition to her interpretations, Block contributed an original, Everybody Loves John, that recalls a little of Hurt’s life as well as how everybody loved Hurt as well as his music. It is the opening track on what is a marvelous and moving salute by Block to one of the most beloved artists located during the sixties blues revival.

I received a review copy from a publicist.  

Jerry Ricks Traveled Many Miles of Blues

There is a picture of Jerry Ricks with Mississippi John Hurt taken from a mid-sixties Philadelphia Blues Festival that was recently published in Big City Blues. It’s a picture that would not be out of place in the booklet accompanying Ricks’ second Rooster Blues album, Many Miles of Blues. The musical link to Hurt is most obvious on the nice rendition of Louis Collins Blues. The flowing guitar and vocal of the opening Missouri River Blues, a Ricks original, also captures some of the same feel found in the music of Hurt and Furry Lewis. It is Lewis to whom Ricks pays respect to on I Will Turn Your Money Green. In addition to his originals that sound like they were written decades ago such as his County Farm Blues, he transforms pianist Little Brother Montgomery’s Vicksburg Blues into a slowed down Beale Street guitar blues, while paying respects to Skip James on a deft treatment of Special Rider Blues. A traditionalist perhaps in his approach, Ricks shows he absorbed the lessons he gotten first-hand, and has moulded his own distinctive approach, evoking his mentors but in his own style. This review of Jerry Ricks appeared in the January-February 2001 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 249) which I have made some minor editing errors. Jerry Ricks unfortunately passed away (it will be five years in December 2007). A marvelous interpreter of classic country blues and a superb exponent of this tradition he is missed for his warmth, humor and wisdom as well as his music. I likely received my review copy from a publicist. This may be hard to find but well worth the effort.

The Re-Discovery Recordings of Mississippi John Hurt

The year 2011 brought a number of new biographies of blues legends including Phillip R. Radcliffe’s Mississippi John Hurt: His Life, His Times, His Blues (University Press of Mississippi). Hurt made some recordings for Okeh Records in 1928, some of which were reissued on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music. Tom Hoskins, a member of Washington DC area record collectors, headed towards Avalon, Mississippi, 35 years later on the hunch that Avalon, Mississippi” which Hurt sang about in Avalon Blues, might be Hurt’s home. Hoskins’ journey to the Delta proved fruitful as Hoskins located the legendary recording artist which led to his relocation for several year to the North and what would be three years of celebrity and fame as one of the great rediscovered blues artists.

Hoskins recorded and interviewed Hurt at the time of the discover on March 3, 1963. These recordings have just been issued on a fascinating new release on Spring Fed Records, Discovery: The Rebirth of Mississippi John Hurt. Wonderfully remastered the CD has 19 tracks including a previously unissued and lengthy interview where Hurt and his wife talks about his early life and recordings, and life after those recordings. It opens with Hoskins introducing Hurt who plays a deft instrumental, presumably as a test, which he names after he finishes Cow Hookin’ Blues.

Many of the songs will be familiar to Hurt’s many fans including Stack’O’Lee, Coffee Blues (known also as A Spoonful Blues), Richland Woman Blues, Candy Man, Spike Driver Blues, and Louis Collins. His playing is facile although the field tape recording make sound a little bit muffled (especially his vocals as Hoskins seems to have miked the guitar better) and the guitar has a slightly harsh tone. Also one can hear folks shuffling in the background as well as hear livestock, such as a rooster crowing in the background of Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me, whose melody is taken from one of Jimmy Rogers’ blue yodels.

The limitations of the field recording though are minor and when folks like Dick Spottswood and Mike Stewart heard Hoskins’ tape, one can imagine the excitement the renditions of Nobody’s Business, and Casey Jones, engendered. Recording limitations aside, the renditions of Stack-O-Lee and Richland Woman Blues are superb. As noted on the back cover, he re-recorded some of his Okeh recordings as well as other songs that would become staples of his performances and be recorded by various labels) over the next three years. Also there were some religious songs like Do Lord, Remember Me, which his wife Jessie, joined by another woman, sings backed by Hurt’s guitar. Waiting For You, is a charming duet between Jessie and John.

Hurt biographer Radcliffe along with Bruce Nemerov wrote the very informative accompanying booklet that detail this recording and include some of the photographs Hoskins took of Hurt and his home community as well as from performances and old 78s. Radcliffe, Nemorov and Evan Hatch produced this marvelous and historically important release, that despite the unavoidable audio flaws, contains some marvelous music. This is not an essential recording, but those interested in Mississippi John Hurt will want to at least hear this and likely will be buying it.

I purchased this.

The life and legacy of Mississippi John Hurt explored

Mississippi John Hurt
His Life, His Times, His Blues
by Philip R. Radcliffe
2011: University Press of Mississippi

Since I first learned about Philip Radcliffe's biography of folk-blues icon, Mississippi John Hurt, I have been awaiting its publication. It has been released and will certainly be welcome for its providing so much detail around the life of this gentle, yet so accomplished a performer as well his impact upon so many, even felt today. The background of his family and ancestors is provided (including the surprising information that his ancestors were once slaves of ancestors of Arizona Senator John McLain.

Making use of census and other data, Radcliffe presents much objective information about the world that John Hurt grew up, his occupation and how he learned to play music in. He details the famous trip to New York where he recorded for Okeh records and his life after returning back to the Avalon area living in the segregated state and then the story how Tom Hoskins found Hurt and brought him to the Washington DC area, and how he became a major star on the folk and emerging blues circuit for three brief years. It should bebe noted that Hoskins located Hurt in Mississippi contemporaneously with the violent segregationist response to civil rights.

Radcliffe details how Hoskins located Hurt and includes material from Hoskins' archive which included photographs of Hurt in his community before he was went north, Hoskins own recollections as well as the recall of those who were involved such as Mike Stewart and Dick Spottsword. Hoskins himself has been subject to attacks over the years. Radcliffe depicts him as perhaps irresponsible but one who cared deeply about Hurt.

When Hurt signed a management contract with Music Research Incorporated, we learn that it was Hurt who insisted that the Manager get paid 50% of gross compensation, because he would not have seen any extra money but for Tom's help. Hoskins himself had suggested Hurt receive 90%. While Tom received 50%, his friends insisted he spent most of his share helping Tom and his family. I note this because he details some of the other business arrangements as well as an overview of Hurt's travels and performances and the aftermath after Hurt's passing when he discusses the various litigation about unauthorized recordings and litigation between Hurt's estate and Hoskins, making extensive use of court materials. It also discusses his legacy and the establishment of the Mississippi John Hurt Museum and annual festival.

There is plenty of new information uncovered here. Radcliffe interviewed many of the folks involved in Hurt's brief period of musical celebrity as well as had access to Hoskins' notes and a two hour tape of Hurt recorded when Hoskins travelled to Mississippi and located him. One shortcoming of this book is that while he discusses Hurt's performances and some of the reactions of folks like Patrick Sky and Jerry Ricks, he does not bring Hurt's music and performances to life. In an overview of the Library of Congress recordings he notes that perhaps Hurt showed a little rust 35 years after recording for Okeh.

Despite this significant flaw, Mississippi John Hurt: His LIfe, His Times, His Blues will be the essential reference on Mississippi John Hurt's life. I do not regret purchasing this. It contains a loving introduction by his granddaughter, Mary Frances Hurt Wright, Hurt's granddaughter and a full listing of Hurt's recordings.

Dick Waterman Blues Photo Exhibit Returns to DC

Those living in the DC area may want to make it to the Govinda Gallery's new Prince George's County location at National Harbor which will be exhibiting Dick Waterman's music photography. Govinda Gallery in 2003 hosted the exhibit of Waterman's acclaimed and historic photography at The gallery's Georgetown location. That exhibit was memorialized in the wonderful book, Between Midnight and Day which is available from Dick Waterman's website, www.dickwaterman.com. The exhibit includes images of legends like Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, Bobby Bland, Howlin' Wolf, and numerous others. The present exhibit is between July 4 and August 31 at Govinda Gallery at National Harbor, 189 Waterfront Street, National Harbor, MD.

Archie Edwards Piedmont Blues Masterpiece

This is another review from late 2001 with minor editing of original to correct it. This CD is also available and as stated in the review, it was done from an advance cassette.

Its been several years since Archie Edwards, one of founders of the D.C. Blues Society and among D.C.’s most beloved blues performers, passed away. During his life there were two albums released under Edwards name. The two are joined by a compact disc of previously unissued recordings by Edwards, The Toronto Sessions on the Canadian NorthernBlues Music label. As indicated elsewhere in this issue Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation will be celebrating its release Friday, November 2. I want to thank Miles Spicer of the Foundation with providing me a tape of the new disc. I am handicapped by lacking a listing of the song titles or the absence of the liner notes. From one of the songs, Poor Me, I would guess this album was recorded during the Reagan Presidency as Archie sings about the hard times of those who voted for Reagan. One thing that is evident is that Archie was in good spirits and voice, and played quite vigorously. He turns in some very spirited renditions of classic blues themes like Sittin’ on Top of The World, and How Long Blues. On this latter number and a couple other selections, one might suggest that the influence of Lightnin’ Hopkins can be detected in some of phrasing Archie employs in his accompaniment. The influence of Mississippi John Hurt can be heard on a couple other selections, and on one number he even plays some slide guitar and employs the Dust My Broom riff. Of Archie’s own songs, there is a new version of Pittsburgh Blues that was first recorded on the album he made for the Living Country Blues USA series in the 1970s. Even when performing a well know number like How Long Blues or Easy Rider Blues, Archie adds his own lyrical take, and several numbers build on traditional blues themes. This is an exceptional album of traditional blues that reminds us just how good Archie and his music made us feel. It is notonly something that will have us remember this local legend, but is possibly the finest of his recordings.